Friday, August 10

The Bourne Legacy Review

The Bourne Legacy

Dir: Tony Gilroy

Starring: Jeremy
Renner, Rachel Weisz,

and Edward Norton

Novelist Robert Ludlum created Jason Bourne, the amnesia
suffering government designed super soldier, who was portrayed in three
successful films by Matt Damon. The
Bourne Legacy is a reboot of the series that attempts to transition the
story forward minus the Jason Bourne character. Although a daring move, it’s
also places the franchise and subsequent fans in a precarious position of
acceptance. The Bourne Legacy offers
some ingenious moments of action; however it also crafts a lengthy and needlessly
intricate narrative that keeps the film from adding up cohesively.

The film begins with an introduction to a stoic man trudging
across an icy mountain range; along the expedition he takes blood samples,
fights off a pack of wolves, and pops a set of pills, one blue and one green. This is Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), an agent
the likes of Jason Bourne but with greater physical abilities.

This film is happening during the final act of The Bourne Ultimatum; Jason Bourne is a
wanted man and the C.I.A., headed by Eric Byer (Edward Norton), is none to
happy with their secret weapon causing so much chaos. Bourne’s mayhem forces
the action of the C.I.A. to shut the entire engineered soldier program down on all levels, which puts the
life of Agent Cross in immediate jeopardy.

After evading a few attempts on his life, Agent Cross must
now deal with the dwindling amount of pills that help him keep his superb
abilities. This leads Agent Cross to Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a
scientist who has conducted medical examinations on him in the past, in hopes
of restocking his supply. Shearing is also a target of elimination because of
her association with the project, however she narrowly escapes an attempt on
her life with some assistance from Cross. This leads Cross and Shearing on a
journey across the globe in hope of an answer.

Director Tony Gilroy, who also co-wrote all the films, helms
this film differently from the previous directors. Gilroy spends a wealth of
time with the setup and less on the mechanisms of action. This normally
wouldn’t be a bad thing but the setup is full of scientific meandering and
Jason Bourne exposition which isn’t quite necessary for the film much less the
introduction of a new character. Also, where Bourne’s amnesia offered narrative
devices that assisted the compelling mystery of Bourne’s identity and past, the
Aaron Cross character is aware of everything and, though his character is suppose
to remain mysterious in some regard, there are only a few attempts to offer
insight into the emotional aspects of his turmoil.

Still, Jeremy Renner is an accomplished actor and exhibits good
control during much of the film, especially during the action scenes. Rachel
Wiesz is also good, most notably as she sheds the fear of danger and
transitions to the confidence of survival; her portrayal is subtle enough for
the shift to feel natural instead of forced. Edward Norton has played the ego
driven hand of power before, but he does it so well it’s always interesting to
see what kind of twist he puts on the character. The cinematography is also
good, offering environment filling wide angles and inventive perspectives
during chase and fight scenes.

The Bourne Legacy attempts
to keep the franchise rolling with a forced finale, which unfortunately sours
an otherwise exciting chase scene. However, though the film falters at times
from a narrative standpoint, it also endures just enough by employing elements
Bourne fans have come to expect.

1 comment:

All of the action in the last 30 minutes really does make up for the slow start and that was one of the most thrilling aspects of this movie. Other than the fact that Aaron Cross wasn’t the type of character you messed with, regardless of whether or not his name was Jason Bourne. Great review Monte.